Southwest Airlines Fined $140 Million for Holiday Meltdown by Emma Schoonmaker
Last year around the holidays, Southwest Airlines had a meltdown and violated multiple laws in the process. What happened in the meltdown was that much of the U.S. was dealing with freezing weather right before Christmas, which lasted over a week.
16,900 Southwest flights were canceled and over 2 million people were left stranded. Not only was the weather getting in the way of the airports functioning, but Southwest was horribly understaffed. At a congressional hearing in February, the executives of the airline said that they also lacked adequate de-icing equipment at the Denver and Chicago Midway airports.
The airline company has paid $600 million to refund all the passengers affected by the meltdown. The meltdown itself cost Southwest Airlines $914 million. Bob Jordan, Southwest Airlines’ chief executive, said, “We have spent the last year acutely focused on efforts to enhance the Customer Experience with significant investments and initiatives that accelerate operational resiliency, enhance cross-team collaboration, and bolster overall preparedness for winter operations.”
Just this last Monday, December 11, the Transportation Department fined the airline company $140 million and charged the airline with the establishment of a $90 million fund to reimburse passengers affected by future delays. The department remarked that this penalty is 30 times larger than any that have been issued in the past regarding infringement of airline user security.
According to investigators’ results and the conditions of the retribution, Southwest debated the legal verdict, but reluctantly agreed to the fine. Pete Buttigieg, secretary of the Transportation Department, said, “[We] just gave them 140 million reasons to make sure that this never happens again…[This] is not just about Southwest, who we are holding accountable with this enforcement action. This is about the entire industry sending a signal that you should not be cutting corners because if you fail your passengers, we will hold you accountable.” In addition, he also stated, “We have gotten enforceable commitments from virtually all of the major airlines on things like taking care of your costs of a hotel or ground transportation or rebooking if you get stuck.”
Southwest Airlines seems to have understood the damage caused by its mistakes, and has made many actions to make up for it.
16,900 Southwest flights were canceled and over 2 million people were left stranded. Not only was the weather getting in the way of the airports functioning, but Southwest was horribly understaffed. At a congressional hearing in February, the executives of the airline said that they also lacked adequate de-icing equipment at the Denver and Chicago Midway airports.
The airline company has paid $600 million to refund all the passengers affected by the meltdown. The meltdown itself cost Southwest Airlines $914 million. Bob Jordan, Southwest Airlines’ chief executive, said, “We have spent the last year acutely focused on efforts to enhance the Customer Experience with significant investments and initiatives that accelerate operational resiliency, enhance cross-team collaboration, and bolster overall preparedness for winter operations.”
Just this last Monday, December 11, the Transportation Department fined the airline company $140 million and charged the airline with the establishment of a $90 million fund to reimburse passengers affected by future delays. The department remarked that this penalty is 30 times larger than any that have been issued in the past regarding infringement of airline user security.
According to investigators’ results and the conditions of the retribution, Southwest debated the legal verdict, but reluctantly agreed to the fine. Pete Buttigieg, secretary of the Transportation Department, said, “[We] just gave them 140 million reasons to make sure that this never happens again…[This] is not just about Southwest, who we are holding accountable with this enforcement action. This is about the entire industry sending a signal that you should not be cutting corners because if you fail your passengers, we will hold you accountable.” In addition, he also stated, “We have gotten enforceable commitments from virtually all of the major airlines on things like taking care of your costs of a hotel or ground transportation or rebooking if you get stuck.”
Southwest Airlines seems to have understood the damage caused by its mistakes, and has made many actions to make up for it.